NRL 2020: Tevita Pangai Jr breaks silence on Broncos sacking to ask for one more chance

Broncos star Tevita Pangai Jr has made a promise to the NRL as he broke his silence on his club’s farcical move to sack him.

Tevita Pangai wants one final chance.

Broncos star Tevita Pangai’s career at the Broncos hangs by a thread — and the star forward is still clinging on for dear life.

Pangai on Friday performed a series of interviews as he made a very public desperate plea to save his season.

The 24-year-old’s decision to break his silence comes in the same week it was revealed the Broncos have been left red-faced over the embarrassing decision to re-call the breach notice they sent to Pangai.

Earlier this month, Pangai Jr was caught breaching the NRL’s strict coronavirus protocols by visiting a barber shop which has links to the Mongols bikie gang when police arrived to search the premises.

The 24-year-old copped a mammoth $30,000 fine and was stood down indefinitely by the NRL for his biosecurity breach.

Kayo is your ticket to the 2020 NRL Telstra Premiership. Every game of every round Live & On-Demand with no-ad breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >

Fox League reporter James Hooper told NRL 360 on Wednesday night the Broncos’ breach notice was withdrawn because it emerged that it would not have stood up should Pangai have challenged his termination.

Hooper described the “piss-weak” breach notice as a “balls-up” because the club failed to highlight Pangai’s alleged series of COVID-protocol breaches as grounds to rip up his multi-year contract.

Tevita Pangai’s deal runs through to the end of the 2022 season.

The mistake may save Pangai’s Broncos career and the club is yet to issue him a follow-up breach notice.

Given a stay of execution, Pangai and his advisers are working hard to restore the wrecking ball’s image — and sew the seeds of doubt into the minds of Broncos officials as they consider pressing ahead with Pangai’s axing or not.

It has already been working behind the scenes with reports NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo is open to the possibility of allowing Pangai Jr to re-enter the Broncos bubble this season.

Now in a series of dramatic interviews, Pangai has revealed:

— He accepts his sanction and admits he deserved a suspension for the barber shop blunder

— He claims to have no connection to any bikie gangs

— He would love to play for the Broncos under coach Anthony Seibold again

— He never attempted to ask Roosters chairman Nick Politis to recruit him from the Broncos; and

— He pledges to Broncos fans and the NRL that he can be trusted to adhere to the game’s biosecurity protocols should he be allowed to play again this season.

“I’m not here to look at anyone else,” Pangai told Fox League on Friday night.

“I’m here to be accountable for my actions. I’ve done the crime and now I’m doing the time. I’m going to enrol myself in a COVID-19 infection course and try and do the right thing and I’m really sorry to all the people doing the right thing.

“I owe a lot to the club. I came here as a 19-year-old boy and they helped me become the person I am today.

“I’ve grown as a person and they’ve stuck by me. I’ve come off contract a few times and could’ve left for more enticing offers down south but I love living in Brisbane and love the club.”

He says he wants to bring a premiership to the Broncos.

“I can guarantee the NRL I will do the right thing,” he said, according to foxsports.com.au

“I will put my hand up and cop the punishment from the NRL and my club.

“My job is to play footy and do the right thing and I wasn’t doing the right thing. I am remorseful for my actions and poor choices. I can guarantee I will do the right thing and put my best foot forward and fulfil my potential.

So you’re telling me there’s a chance.

“I hope I am a chance of coming back this year. I am coming out now to say I want to make things right with the fans and members.

“I let down my teammates as well and I’ve apologised to them and owned my mistake.

“The Broncos deserve a premiership and I want to be a part of it.”

Pangai told The Courier-Mail he is trying to turn over a new leaf with his career on the brink.

“I knew I was breaking the rules,” he said.

“I admitted that in my NRL integrity unit meeting. I knew I was doing the wrong thing and breaking protocol. As a member of the leadership group I needed to be better and I’m working hard to do the right thing now. I’ve stayed at home the last 13 days.

“I did it a few times [breached the Broncos’ bubble] I admitted that in my interview with the NRL integrity unit.

“I did the wrong thing and I’ve been taking it for granted. When this pandemic first broke out a lot of my friends at the club lost their job. And they’d given years and years of their time to the club and their jobs were made redundant. I’m trying to do the right thing now.”

The NRL earlier this week also fined 10 Broncos players over the club’s disastrous Everley Park Hotel quarantine breach which saw players fined $65,000 and the club hit with a $75,000 sanction.

The players hit with fines were: Jake Turpin, Kotoni Staggs, Ethan Bullemor, David Fifita, Corey Paix, Josh James, Tyson Gambler, Keenan Palasia, Sean O’Sullivan and Corey Oates.